If you are a parent of a young child, you must be curious and worried about how to educate your kid at this age, isn’t it? The teachings imparted at this age last long, and the children quickly learn essential skills. Parents must take advantage of the early childhood years and teach their children necessary life skills.
Early childhood education aims to promote a child’s holistic development. It encompasses the children’s social, emotional, behavioral, and physical learning and growth. Here, we will focus on what early childhood education is and why it is important.
What is Early Childhood Education?
Early childhood education involves teaching young kids (birth to age five) formally and informally, enabling their growth and development. Early childhood education includes various activities that allow the children to understand, imitate, learn, experiment, and explore.
Preschool teachers, adult caregivers, parents, daycare staff, or extended family members may be involved in developing a child’s physical, mental, cognitive, and emotional preparedness.
Why is Early Childhood Education Essential?
The child is believed to complete 90% of the brain growth by the time they are five years old. This critical window of development makes the children lifelong learners. According to the National Education Association (NEA), children receiving a high-quality education before reaching the age of five enjoy significant benefits in the future. These children are better prepared academically for later grades, become leaders in the future, and are better decision-makers.
Here we detail what makes early childhood education programs important:
➛ Improves Social Skills
Childhood education programs help children develop social skills by allowing them to interact with other kids and adults outside their families. The children learn to acquaint themselves and develop interpersonal skills such as listening, sharing, and expressing. Inculcating these skills early in makes them social for life.
➛ Brain Development
Brain development is one of the best reasons the child should enrol in the early childhood education program. At this stage of learning, the child has maximum flexibility and openness to learn and adopt things. They observe and absorb everything. At this time, if they are inspired to think creatively and critically, it will help augment their brain capacity and development.
➛ Builds Confidence
Early childhood care and education emphasize interactive learning methods through role play, open communication, playful activities, etc. Successfully completing these activities boosts the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Their interaction with teachers, friends, and the elderly develops positive views of others and themselves.
➛ Improved Language Skills
Early on, children communicate through gestures, actions, sounds, and broken words. Then, they start developing literacy skills and learning from their surroundings. Early childhood education promotes a culture of talking, reading storybooks, listening to stories, understanding picture stories, etc. This helps to develop fundamental literacy skills in the kids.
➛ Enhances Focus
When children start learning early, they develop better concentration power. The playschool teachers are adept at planning professional and interesting learning sessions. This ignites the student’s interest and enhances focus in the kids. Some preschool tasks are designed to spike more concentration and patience in the children.
➛ Teaches Good Habits
Developing good habits is a vital part of early childhood education. Children learn habits like maintaining good personal hygiene, keeping the surroundings clean, eating a healthy meal on their own, returning their toys to the designated place, etc. These programs develop these day-to-day life habits in the kids, making the child more responsible and independent.
➛ Lays Foundation for Education
Early childhood programs lay the foundation for the future education of the children. These programs boost enjoyment and make the children feel excited about learning. Since learning and education are everlasting and lifelong, it is important to invest in them now!
➛ Monitor Developmental Milestones
As children grow up, there are several developmental milestones. The parents may or may not be able to track these milestones. The early childhood educators ensure to monitor all the developmental milestones for children and determine the indicators that are not yet met. They inform the same of the parents and are also trained to address the issues. So, when you enroll your child in an early childhood education program, you leave them in safe hands who perform these screenings and report the results.
Wrapping Up
Early childhood programs are essential for children for various reasons. They have the power to transform and unlock opportunities for societal and national progress through outstanding education.
Education Policy Institute has been instrumental in crafting the best early childhood education programs. Global visionaries design EPI programs. The institute introduces programs that maximize the student’s potential through revolutionary expertise. Their forthcoming early childhood programs, like Reengineering Early Learning and Development, Leading Early Education, and Rethinking Education During Uncertainly, are designed to develop key skills and fulfill the growing learning needs of small children.
